A Look Back at the... Pioneer-Tribune Archives

50 Years Ago April 11, 1963

• Is Manistique’s new City Manager staying? Or is he leaving? Only one man knows the answer to that question, and that’s City Manager Clarence A. Motz. And he’s not telling. He told the council Monday night that he was leaving April 15 - but after talking with townspeople and council members, he agreed to reconsider the question. Wednesday he said he still wasn’t ready to make any announcement. Despite a story published Tuesday, Motz is not asking the council for more money, nor have they discussed a pay raise with him. He was hired at $8,400 a year, plus $300 for expenses. “Under existing conditions, and in fairness to myself, I don’t feel the salary is adequate for the amount of work involved,” he told the council. Motz said that if he had known the problem was as large as it was, he never would have accepted the position.

• The shipping season will open at Port Inland Saturday with the arrival of the Steamer Fitzgerald. Last year the season opened April 17, with the same ship the first one to arrive. The icebreaker “Mesquite” was at Port Inland Tuesday clearing a channel and breaking ice inside the harbor. The Fitzgerald will take on a load of 6,500 tons of cement stone for the Marquette Cement Co. at Milwaukee. The ship will be coming here from winter berth at Manitowoc.

• The Department of the Interior has awarded a $83,960 contract to the Kaysner Construction Co. of Sault Ste. Marie for construction of a visitor’s center, sewer system, water supply and parking area at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge it was announced this week. The project is expected to be completed this summer.

• The local VFW post honored local Safety Patrol youngsters with a party recently, and a queen and her court were chosen. Queen Becky Rodgers, was accompanied by Karen Wehner, Mary Kay Smith, Kathy Wilson and Diane Schneider.

• Lyle Bouchard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Bouchard, was recently cited as an “Honor Salesman” by the Grit Publishing Co. An eighth grade student at Central school, Lyle has been a salesman for the national weekly paper for the past four years.

35 Years Ago April 13, 1978

• Schoolcraft County government appeared headed for its first million dollar budget when the board of commissioners Tuesday night approved a tentative budget of $1,341,193 for 1979. Largest items in the tentative 1979 budget: Schoolcraft County Medical care Facility, $131,746; courthouse bond repayment, $115,000; sheriff’s department and jail, $101,243; clerk’s office, $65,816; courthouse and grounds, $65,800; District Court, $67,239; treasurer’s department, $53,511; road commission, $50,000.

• Fixing the Manistique marina piers after they sustained ice damage will be no “big job” according to Jim Slining, manager of Manistique Rentals which is doing the work. The piers were left in the harbor waters last fall by city superintendent of streets, Mike Faketty. He had estimated that ice damage repair costs would be less than the cost of taking the piers out of the water. Faketty said he received conflicting advice whether or not to leave the piers in the harbor or remove them. However, the person who designed them told him to leave them in.

• Manistique’s Big Boy restaurant tentatively was set to open today on east Lakeshore Drive. Marie Patton, manager of the 11th and newest Elias Brothers restaurant in the U.P., said the restaurant will be open about 18 hours a day to start, and plans to be open 24 hours a day in the near future.

• A new Manistique Senior Citizens’ Center, located in the old D.N.R. garage on Main Street, is being designed in the style of a colonial home. “We want it to be a home away from home for our citizens,” said Eileen Males, director of the center. To qualify for the over $124,000 of state money to build the center, a structure with four walls was needed. The total cost of the construction is set at $188,000, $64,000 of which has to be raised locally.

20 Years Ago April 15, 1993

• Drivers driving up M-94 will soon be able to drive at Tee-94. It’s not as confusing as it may sound. “Tee-94”, a golf ball driving range, is the latest venture of Harbor Enterprises, a Mental health Board program that provides jobs for the mentally handicapped. When construction is completed in May, a 12.79 acre abandoned field on M-94 north of Manistique will be converted into a driving range 350 foot deep and 500 feet wide, allowing eight golfers at a time to practice their tee shots.

• Some former U.P. Sears Catalog Stores will be converted into small retail facilities. Manistique’s store is not one of them. “They will be leaving us on May 4,” said store manager Karen Hoholik, who was officially notified of the closure this week. Hoholik said that the store will continue to sell appliances and offer plumbing services after Sears leaves.

• Between April 17 and May 16, permits will not be issued by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources or the United States Forest Service for open burn in an effort to curb Michigan wildfires. According to the DNR, spring is the most critical time of the year for wildfires in Michigan because leaves and grass are often at their driest.

10 Years Ago April 10, 2003

• Braving last Friday’s snow and cold, Manistique Mayor Peggi Arnold and members of the Schoolcraft County All-Vets Committee gathered at Triangle Park for the kick-off of the city’s Yellow Ribbon project, paying tribute to the troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. After Arnold tied the ceremonial first ribbon, the veterans fanned out across the city, placing ribbons on light poles along Cedar, River and Deer streets.

• The weather didn’t seem to affect the majority of the teams that showed up on Saturday to participate in the annual Yooper Hooper basketball tournament at the Manistique High School gymnasium. The one day event put on by the economics class, raised over $5,000 with a portion of the proceeds to be distributed to area organizations such as YETI, the senior class and Schoolcraft County Habitat for Humanity.

• Schoolcraft County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Alice Burkholder recently manned a county information booth at the Sport, Fishing and Travel Show in downstate Grand Rapids.